The New York Lightning 17's after winning The Hoop Group's Buzzer Beater Classic on Sunday.Dave Krupinski, The Hoop Group

The New York Lighting was at full strength this weekend at Basketball City in lower Manhattan. In related news, the Nike-sponsored 17U club took home The Hoop Group’s Buzzer Beater Classic crown.

Unfortunately for the Lightning, it hasn’t been playing with a full deck for most of the spring and summer, missing forwards Kuran Iverson and Larry Beckett for large period of time. The five games — all wins — it played this weekend showed what it can do.

The Lightning won four of its five contests by double figures and its lone closet contest, a 68-60 win over the NYC Jayhawks, wasn’t in doubt down the stretch.

“Everybody was able to play their roles and stay within themselves,” Lightning coach Shandue McNeil said. “Kuran takes a lot of pressure off everybody.”

The 6-foot-9 Iverson, considered one of the top forwards in the Class of 2013 with offers from scores of major Division I schools such as Connecticut and Oklahoma State, and Beckett couldn’t play in the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League because they missed the age cutoff by mere days.

Without them, the Lightning went just 5-15 in EYBL, failing to qualify for Peach Jam after losing five times in overtime and twice blew leads late. The duo wasn’t able to compete at the recent Nike Invitational in Augusta, Ga. either, though the Lightning did reach the finals there, and Iverson missed Live in AC this week because he was busy with summer school this week.

“Major difference without them,” McNeil said.

Iverson was around this weekend and made his presence felt through the Buzzer Beater Classic, scoring 19 points against the Jayhawks. Still, mainstays Dayshon Smith, Richard Williams and Jon Severe were also integral to the title.

Severe, a highly recruited guard from Christ the King, scored 13 points in the final, the versatile Williams got the Lightning off to a quick start with eight early points and Smith capped his brilliant AAU season with his traditional complete floor games, pushing the ball and creating opportunities for himself and his teammates.

“My last AAU tournament I wasn’t trying to lose,” said The Bronx native, who attends Putnam Science Academy and has a laundry list of mid-major offers.

The Jayhawks, a nondescript team which has enjoyed July success, never went away behind the play of Boys & Girls star Leroy (Truck) Fludd, Kangaroos teammate Bryce Jones and Half Hollows Hills West standout Emile Blackman. They led on a handful of occasions and even after falling behind by as many as nine, were within two late after a Fludd (21 points) basket. But Iverson put away the championships with a free throw and tip-in of his own miss.

“He gives us a little bit of everything we need,” Smith said.

The last time the Lightning was at full strength for a major tournament was Rumble In the Bronx, when it reached the final four. The Buzzer Beater Classic wasn’t nearly as significant, except it signified the end of the AAU season.

“It’s good for the guys, they’ve been loyal and dedicated to the Lightning,” McNeil said. “It’s good for them to go out with a bang.”